July 19 (Bloomberg) -- London’s Stansted airport said it
should play a key role in boosting U.K. flight capacity, either
via the addition of a single-runway as part of a multi-airport
plan or through its expansion into the country’s sole hub.

Adding one strip could lift annual capacity to 80 million
passengers using a site northwest of the current runway or to 90
million by expanding east. A four-runway airport would be able
to handle as many as 160 million travelers, owner Manchester
Airports Group told a state commission on U.K. aviation policy.

Stansted is pitching growth plans after Heathrow airport
said this week it should remain Britain’s sole hub and submitted
three alternative proposals to add a third runway taking its
capacity to 130 million passengers by 2025-29. Boris Johnson,
London’s mayor, said earlier that an expanded Heathrow would be
too noisy and that a new four-runway base should be established
either at one of two sites in the Thames estuary or at Stansted.

“Developing new capacity at a number of airports is likely
to be best for passengers,” MAG Chief Executive Officer Charlie
Cornish said today in a statement. “Should the commission take
a different view and conclude that the U.K. needs an effective
hub to provide international connectivity, then Stansted could
certainly fulfill that role in a cost-effective way.”

Less Costly

Expanding Stansted would impact fewer people than rival
plans in terms of construction and jet noise, and cost less at
about 10 billion pounds ($15 billion) in on-airport expenses
even for the four-runway option, said MAG, which also owns
Manchester Airport in northern England.

Johnson’s proposals for an estuary hub would cost about 50
billion pounds, including transport links, plus 15 billion
pounds to purchase Heathrow, which he says should be turned into
a new London borough. Heathrow has priced the addition of a
third runway at no more than 18 billion pounds.

Proposals for boosting U.K. airport capacity are being
submitted to the government-appointed Davies Commission by a
deadline today.

Gatwick, London’s second-busiest airport, says it favors a
“constellation” of airports ringing the capital rather than a
one “megahub.” The world’s busiest single-runway site would get
a second strip, as might Stansted, with Heathrow also retained.

Michael O’Leary, chief executive officer of Ryanair
Holdings Plc, Europe’s biggest airline and the leading carrier
at Stansted, said today that while there’s no reason Heathrow
shouldn’t be expanded, it’s vital that other airports also grow.

“The only -- and best -- way forward is to gain additional
runway capacity at each of the three existing airports,” O’Leary
said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “We are against
just adding runways at one airport.”